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Monday, January 18, 2016

Daud Shah Karrani

Daud Shah Karrani (Karlanri), the last Afghan Sultan of India, has been taken prisoner in this 16th century painting from Akbarnama . He is shown with his hands bound together, surrounded by Mughal cavalry. Daud Karrani was beheaded and his severed head was sent to Akbar. The Sultanate of Karrani Afghans became a dominant power in the north-eastern part of India in 1565-1572 and included Bengal, Bihar, Orissa , Jharkhand and parts of Assam (Koch).

A group of tribes such as the Afridi, Dilazak, Wazir, Khattak, Shitak, Zadran etc. are collectively referred to as Karlanri tribes (spelled as Karrani , Kararani or Kalani in Persian sources due to difficulty in pronouncing ڼ of Pashto). According to genealogy trees, they are descendants of Karlan.